“He’s a sophomore who seems to get better each week,” Grounds said. “Don’t forget — he was an offensive lineman every year of youth football, last year as a freshman. We made him a fullback in this offense because we saw flashes in practice of what we thought he could be. And he’s still learning, but each week — man, you can’t debate the effort or just the toughness of him. A joy to coach.”

After giving up 20 points in the first half, and falling behind 20-14, Jacksonville’s defense shut out Lanphier in the second half. The Crimsons stymied Lanphier’s running game all night, and stepped up the pressure on Lanphier’s quarterback in the second half to disrupt the Lions’ passing game.

“I think we called a few more blitzes,” Grounds said. “We were pressing and bailing on some of our coverage, and we brought some different pressure packages that we haven’t shown this year. We’ve got some athletes off the edge. We forced him to put some air under the ball, and our kids did a much better job breaking on the ball in the second half.”

Sophomore Ryan Maul had a good night at quarterback, completing 3-of-7 passes for 77 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jordan White. Maul also gained 43 yards on the ground on 15 carries.

“He completed some big balls,” Grounds said. “First-ever touchdown pass on the varsity level. Pitched the ball in the option, read the option well. Really, starting — about midway through the first quarter at Chatham last week, I think the light bulb started going on, and he understood. And, you know, it’s a tough offense to learn. And there’s no doubt that early on in the season, when he wasn’t having as much personal success as he’d like, it would have been easy for him to question himself. All he did was work harder and have faith in himself, in what he was being told in the preparation, and it’s starting to show. We knew to win this game, that he was going to have to make some plays, in the air, as well as with his feet. And he did both of those.”

What’s Maul’s year been like so far?

“It’s just a grind, pretty much,” he said. “That’s how I describe it. I mean, first couple of games, struggled a little bit. But I think we really stepped it up. And I think a big part is our line. Our line has really stepped it up. They give us that push that we need, and that really helps our offense.”

Maul said he’s getting much more comfortable with the Crimsons’ offense.

“First couple of games, it was tough,” he said. “And then after seeing it a couple games, I think I’m really starting to see it really well. It’s just getting a lot easier now than before.”

Maul said there was no panic in the locker room at halftime.

“We were kind of down, but also I think we really focused on what we needed to do to come back and win this game because we really needed it,” he said. “This is a big win for us.”

Jordan Cave caught one pass for 11 yards, and he intercepted a pass in the final two minutes of the game to seal the victory. Grounds knew the Crimsons would need Cave against Lanphier.

“Big interception. Been playing sporadically this year — not as much as he wanted,” Grounds said. “Challenged him last week to have a great week of practice because we felt that he needed to be on the field for us. And we had a big heart-to-heart. The kid played every game for us as a starter last year, at safety. And really refocused himself on defense, and made a couple of really big hits, and saved a couple of touchdowns on the run, and obviously, that big interception. That’s probably — he’d tell you right now, probably the highlight of his young career. And couldn’t be more proud of him.”